Have you ever wanted to become a hockey player, or skate around the park without loading speed on turns, or just simply just show off to your friends? Then you might want to learn how to cross over. A cross over is a turn by stepping over your foot and is used so you don't loss speed in a turn. Practice and anyone can do it. This means you. A difficult skill to learn at first, once you've mastered it, you can actually gain speed when turning.

Steps

Part 1

Preparing Yourself

1

Buy a pair of roller blades, also known as inline skates. Try them on in good sports shoe retail stores and get some help from the assistant with sizing and fit.

2

Learn to skate. First up, you need to learn how to go forward and balance on them. Before attempting a crossover, you should already know how to move, turn, and stop.

3

Wear all your pads when learning a new trick, this goes for any trick. Even a pair of wrist guards can save you a expensive trip to the ER, so do yourself a favor wear the pads.

Part 2

Doing a Crossover

1

Find a flat area. This can be a skating rink, playground, basketball court or any surface that is flat and you have enough space to turn.

2

Practice in place. If you can't do it standing still, don't try it moving. In this case, it's a good idea to grab onto a wall or stand on a rug and practice stepping over your feet. When you feel comfortable with the supported position, then try doing it without holding on to a wall or standing on a rug.

Remember to bend your knees and put your weight on the foot you are stepping over, you couldn't do it off skates.

3

Do a small move to begin with. Move slowly when you are trying to cross over. Start off very slowly, then fully step over your feet (don't do a half step), while leaning into the turn. Once you've done it, take your back foot and put it next to your other foot and regain your balance.

4

Skate a little faster but still slowly. Start to turn left and while doing so take your right foot and put it over your left foot, pushing with your right foot until your left foot is in front of your right foot again. Don't trip over your left foot, you must move it out of the way.

5

Do the same turning right except switch your feet around.

6

Go around in circles changing directions every once in a while until it becomes normal.

7

Practice. Don't expect to do ten of them in a row flawlessly. Just practice doing it and and try to do it going faster and cross over again with less time to recover.